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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27231358">Swipe Right: A Tinder Tale</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daikon1/pseuds/Daikon'>Daikon (Daikon1)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Anime &amp; Manga)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cunnilingus, F/M, Mutual Masturbation, Mutual Pining, One Shot, Sexting</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 21:35:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>13,348</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27231358</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daikon1/pseuds/Daikon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Mamoru downloaded Tinder in an attempt to find a date for Motoki and Reika's wedding, he wasn't expecting to match with the girl he's been crushing on for years. Wait a second, was Usagi trying to sext with him?!?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Chiba Mamoru/Tsukino Usagi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>141</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Swipe Right: A Tinder Tale</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Those of you who follow me on Tumblr may have seen the 'ask game' a few weeks ago where we came up with some potential plot summaries for unused Smutember themes - well, someone prompted me with "Tinder" and I really liked my plot summary, so I ended up actually writing it!!</p><p>This was originally intended as a short for Tequila, Salt, Lemons, but then it wound up longer than expected, so I'm sharing it as a standalone instead!</p><p>Big, huge thanks to the anon who prompted me, and of course to FloraOne, who Beta'd and reassured me that my early sexting draft was not god-awful (I have no idea how to flirt, y'all) and took on the role of my low-key (and much appreciated) smut drill sergeant.<br/>I promise you, this would not have turned out half as well without her encouragement and support!!!</p><p>Hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Mamoru, as the best man in my wedding, you really ought to bring a date.” </p><p>Mamoru crinkled his nose as his best friend simultaneously chastised him and set down a fresh cup of coffee on the counter between them. It was much too early in the day for Motoki to start in on Mamoru’s eternal lack-of-a-personal-life. </p><p>“I’ve never heard of any social customs that require the best man at a wedding to have a date.”</p><p>“Well no, but Reika’s giving me hell because Emiko just got serious with someone new, which means now <em>all </em>her bridesmaids are coupled up and so if you don’t have a date it’s going to ‘throw off the whole seating chart,’ which I’ve had to listen to her complain about every night for the past week.” </p><p>Mamoru winced, glancing up at his visibly annoyed best friend. “You know I’m not seeing anyone right now.”</p><p>“You’re not seeing anyone, ever,” Motoki scoffed, tossing a red-and-white checked towel over one shoulder. “Reika thinks you’re asexual, but I told her if you were you would have told me. You would have, right?” </p><p>At Motoki’s words, Mamoru choked on his sip of hot coffee. “Yes! I mean no! No, I am not asexual and yes, if I was, I would have told you. And even if I didn’t, I’d like to think that as my best friend you’d respect my privacy about something so personal.” He took another sip, then cleared his throat. “Where did Reika even <em>get</em> that idea?” </p><p>Motoki shrugged. “I mean, you’ve gotta admit that the fact that you’ve never brought anyone around is a little unusual.”</p><p>“I’m focusing on school right now.” The response was automatic. And maybe slightly defensive.</p><p>“You’ve been ‘focusing on school’ the entire time I’ve known you. C’mon, man, at some point you have to ease up and actually enjoy your life. Don’t you want to get married someday yourself?”</p><p>Wrinkling his nose, Mamoru gave the mug in his hand a little swirl. “Of course I want to get married someday, but I have plenty of time before I have to worry about that.”</p><p>Motoki’s eyebrow arched up. “I dunno, statistically speaking, the longer you wait, the smaller the pool of eligible unmarried women gets. And the first girl you date doesn’t have to be Mrs. Right or anything but… just hoping it’ll happen someday isn’t a great recipe for meeting someone.” </p><p>Mamoru sighed, his eyes flicking up to see a sunny blonde walking past the window of the arcade. She didn’t come in as much anymore, though Mamoru still regularly visited for coffee and to keep Motoki company when he covered a shift for his parents. <em>And because you’re hoping to see her,</em> that traitorous little part of his conscience whispered.</p><p>When Usagi continued on her way without coming in, Mamoru exhaled and turned his attention back to his friend. “Even if I wanted to find someone, I wouldn’t know where to look.”</p><p>Folding his arms against the counter, Motoki leaned onto his forearms. </p><p>“Have you ever thought about trying Tinder?” </p>
<hr/><p>“Tinder?!?”</p><p>Minako stood in the doorway of Usagi’s room, triumphantly holding up Usagi’s hot pink phone to show off the profile that she’d created for her roommate. </p><p><em>Usagi, 19. Looking for some fun and games</em> ;) </p><p>Over the header, Minako had uploaded a selfie that Usagi had taken a few weeks ago in the park, ice cream in hand as she winked at the camera. </p><p>“Minako-chan!!” Usagi cried, scandalized. </p><p>“What? C’mon, girl, live a little!” </p><p>Usagi pulled her mouth into a pout. “Is <em>Tinder</em> really required to ‘live a little?’” </p><p>Minako arched an eyebrow. “I don’t know, Usagi-chan,” she drawled. “Remind me, when was the last time that you had a date?”</p><p>Usagi huffed. Dating was <em>hard </em>when you’d spent the last five years hopelessly in love with a guy who would barely look twice at you. I mean, other than to bicker with her on the street, but that was hardly fodder for shojo manga. </p><p>Minako sat down on the bed next to Usagi, her face taking on a note of gentleness that was a stark contrast to her typical brash nature. “Usa, I know you’re still hung up on Chiba…” </p><p>Usagi made a face. She was well, WELL aware of Minako’s opinions about the older boy. </p><p>“Which is why Tinder is perfect! You can just meet people, maybe find something casual, even get in a hookup or two if you want, and it doesn’t have to mean anything. Most people are just on Tinder for a good time, they’re not looking for anything serious.” </p><p>Usagi sighed. She knew rationally that this was coming from a place of love - Mina had a new love-of-her-life every other week, couldn’t fathom a more fun activity than playing the field, and struggled to wrap her head around Usagi’s comparative absence of a social life - but Usagi wasn’t so sure that ‘a good time’ was the solution to her woes. </p><p>“C’mon, Usa… it’s this or finally confess to Chiba.” </p><p>Her eyes went wide and she shook her head violently. <em>They’d been fighting for </em><strong><em>way </em></strong><em>too long, she couldn’t say something NOW.</em></p><p>Minako shrugged. “Okay, then just give Tinder a try. Three days. If you don’t match with anyone you wanna meet up with by then, I’ll drop it.”</p><p>Usagi took her phone back with a roll of her eyes. “Three days,” she repeated, and Mina nodded with a cheeky grin. </p><p>“Okaaaay, girl!” she said, clapping her hands together. “Get to swiping!” </p>
<hr/><p>Settling in on his couch for the evening, Mamoru put the finishing touches on his new Tinder profile. He hardly ever took photos of himself, so he’d just used his official university headshot as his profile picture. He’d typed “I like coffee and books” in his “About Me” section, and now he was ready to try this ‘swiping’ thing that the app promised.</p><p>The first profile that came up was a pretty brunette wearing a white t-shirt and laughing into the camera. He paused, looking at her photo. ‘Kyoko, 24’ was 6.4 km away and said she ‘loves to travel and laugh.’ She looked like she might be a fun date to a wedding. After a moment’s thought, he swiped right.</p><p>Next was ‘Yuna, 18.’ She was ‘an aspiring teacher’ who was 13.4 km away. Her picture was her looking over a book, and her eyes were a pretty shade of green. His thumb hovered over the screen with indecision before he swiped right. <em>He could always change his mind later, right?</em></p><p>He swiped left almost immediately on ‘Asago, 21’ (9.7 km away). She was scowling at the camera and her profile said she was ‘a proud Yakuza’ - he wasn’t all that interested in getting killed at Motoki’s wedding.</p><p>He paused on ‘Ichika, 22’ (5.5 km away) for almost a full minute. Her photo was her in a traditional kimono performing a tea ceremony, but her profile said she was ‘a typical Western girl.’ He wasn’t sure what to make of that contradiction. After shifting his thumb one way, then the other, he swiped left.</p><p>‘Chieko, 26,’ was a pretty redhead smiling out through the branches of a blossoming sakura tree. She was 2.4 km away and her profile said she ‘likes nature and dancing.’ He swiped right, figuring that even if she was a little older, it would be nice to take someone who knew how to dance to the wedding.</p><p>The next picture made his heart seize in his chest. He’d recognize those blue eyes anywhere. Usagi, 19 - 1.9 km away, ‘looking for some fun and games.’</p>
<hr/><p>Right. Right. <em>Shirtless abs, no thank you.</em> Left. Right. Right. Left. Right. Left again. <em>Wait, is that a girl? She’s pretty, I guess.</em> Right. Right. <em>Another girl - apparently Mina wanted to tell her something?</em> Left. Right. </p><p>Usagi was beginning to find a groove, but she almost dropped the phone when a familiar face appeared beneath her fingers.</p><p>“MINNNNNNAAAAA!” she screeched as she stared down at Mamoru, 22 - 1.9 km away.</p><p>The photo was awkward, in an adorable kind of way. She was pretty sure it was the photo from his university ID card. Her eyes softened as she stared at the picture and his terrible, terrible bio (it was accurate, she supposed) and her fingers traced the line of his cheek before Mina poked her head around the door. </p><p>“You bellowed?” she asked, and then groaned. “Oh, I know that look. You found Chiba on Tinder, didn’t you?” </p><p>Usagi flushed. “Um…”</p><p>“Well, gimme!” Minako said, holding out her hand. Usagi fought the urge to withhold Mamoru’s profile from Mina - if she did, the other girl would just go activate her own Tinder account so she could see it for herself - but she didn’t relinquish the phone. Instead, she held it out so Mina could see the screen. </p><p>“Oh my god, he <em>would</em> choose a photo like that,” she muttered, then dropped her hands to her hips and looked at Usagi. “So why’d you scream for me?”</p><p>Usagi bugged her eyes and waved her arms out. “What do I do?!?”</p><p>Minako blinked. “What do you <em>do</em>?! Usa, I love you, but are you even listening to yourself? This is your chance! Swipe right, swipe right!” </p><p>“Mina, that is a <em>terrible </em>plan. If he finds out I like him, he’ll <em>never</em> let me live it down!”</p><p>“No, no! If he doesn’t swipe back, then he’ll never know! You don’t see any information about the people you don’t match with, just the ones that you do.” </p><p>Usagi pressed her lips together and looked up at Minako. “...You said people are only on Tinder for casual stuff.” If Mamoru swiped on her but turned out to only want something casual, she might actually die. </p><p>“Pshh, this is CHIBA. He isn’t capable of doing anything without the utmost seriousness. If he swipes back, it’s time to start writing my toast.” </p><p>Usagi shot her a glare, but without any venom behind it. Then her eyes were drawn like a magnet back down at the phone in her lap, still open to Mamoru’s profile. “You’re <em>sure</em> he won’t see it unless he swipes back on me, right?” </p><p>Minako reached out and squeezed Usagi’s knee. “I promise. You go ahead and swipe on him, and I’ll go get us some ice cream, okay?”</p><p>Usagi pouted, pretty sure that Minako’s preemptive ice cream prep did not bode well for her odds of getting a match with the man of her dreams. Nonetheless, after a moment’s pause, she picked up the phone and swiped right. </p>
<hr/><p>The fifteenth site he checked confirmed what the first fourteen he had Googled had all promised. You would only see a ‘match’ if both people swiped right on each other. And, as he knew that such a thing could never happen, it was safe to confess his hopeless crush into the void of Tinder without any risk of Usagi ever finding out. </p><p><em>If she did, he would </em> <strong> <em>never</em> </strong> <em> live it down.</em></p><p>But somehow, after seeing the silly picture that she’d chosen for her profile - she was winking, the tip of her pink tongue poking out and an ice cream cone in the corner of the screen - it felt oddly disingenuous to continue swiping. After all, even if he was only here to find a date for Motoki’s wedding, it wasn’t like he would ever be able to get serious with any of the other girls on the app. His heart had been spoken for since the day he’d been hit by a failed test paper.</p><p>He sighed, dragging his thumb to the right. He still had a couple weeks before the RSVP card was due back. He could sleep on this, and then pick the app up and try again tomorrow when the weird feeling passed...</p>
<hr/><p>“Eeeeee!”</p><p>“Usagi, are you okay?!” Minako appeared in the doorway to Usagi’s bedroom, a pint of Chunky Monkey in one hand, to find her roommate sitting at the head of her bed, phone lying face down at the foot. </p><p>“Mina-P, we MATCHED, what the hell am I supposed to do?” </p><p>As she lowered the ice cream, Minako’s face turned incredulous. “What do you mean ‘what are you supposed to do?!’ Send him a message, dummy!”</p><p>“But what if he only swiped on me as a joke?” </p><p>Minako stared blankly at her roommate. “Usa, as I was so patiently explaining to you not five minutes ago, you can’t see how another person swiped unless you swipe on them. What, exactly, would be the joke?” </p>
<hr/><p>Mamoru stared at the phone in his hands with wide eyes and a dry throat. “It’s a Match!” the screen proclaimed, his awkward university headshot juxtaposed next to Usagi’s adorable winking selfie. </p><p>
  <em>Did that mean… Was it possible?</em>
</p><p>His thumb hovered over the ‘Send Message’ button, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to press it. <em>What if she’d swiped on him by accident?</em> It wasn’t outside of the realm of possibility for Tsukino Usagi to mix up her right and her left. </p><p>Before he could chicken out and close the app, a bubble appeared on his screen. “You have 1 new message!”</p><p>He forgot how to breathe as he tapped the bubble and a new screen popped up: </p>
<ul>
<li>
<em>I guess u like dumplings after all </em>😉</li>
</ul><hr/><p>“Oh my god, Mina-chan, I cannot <em>believe</em> I let you talk me into sending that!!” </p><p>“What? It’s the perfect setup. If he’s not interested in fucking your brains out, he’ll be like ‘Haha, just kidding’ and start teasing you. If he IS then he’ll get all stupid and Mamoru about it.” </p><p>Usagi gave her roommate a scathing look. “Mamoru is <em>not</em> stupid.”</p><p>“You <em>literally </em>call him Mamoru-baka. He is the textbook definition of ‘School-Smart Life-Stupid.’ If he wasn’t, you two would have screwed years ago.”</p><p>Usagi’s cheeks turned fire-engine red. “Mina! Don’t be ridiculous.” </p><p>“Puh. You’ve had Tinder for like three seconds and Mamoru has already matched with you. Boy wants you BAD.” </p><p>As if to illustrate Minako’s point, Usagi’s phone lit up again, and Mina smirked knowingly. </p><p>“Well,” she said, spinning on one fluffy-slippered foot. “I’ll just leave you to it, then.” She sashayed out of the room, pausing only to throw Usagi the world’s biggest wink before closing the door behind her.</p><p>Alone again, Usagi opened her phone, and her insides twisted pleasantly at Mamoru’s reply.</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Dumplings are amazing. I just wasn’t sure what they thought of me.</em></li>
</ul><hr/><p>His heart was squeezing in his chest as he pressed send. <em>Was that too pathetic?</em> He’d basically come right out and admitted he liked her, right? Then again, she’d kind of admitted she liked him too, hadn’t she? </p><p>He still couldn’t believe his luck, that she of all people had swiped on him. He was half-expecting it to turn out to be some kind of cosmic joke - that this was someone else pretending to be Usagi. But no one else would have called him out about the dumplings, so it had to be real. </p><p>His phone lit up in his hand, and he instantly unlocked it, holding the device up to eye level.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<em>Haha u could have fooled me. I thought u hated dumplings ur always teasing me about them </em>🥟🥟</li>
</ul><p>She had a point. But he wasn’t sure how to begin to justify his prickly and maladaptive defense mechanisms to the woman he’d spent the last five years pretending not to love. Especially not in the chat feature on Tinder. </p>
<hr/><p>Her cheeks were a little pink, but like, she <em>had</em> to say that. Like Minako said, if he didn’t really like her he’d start teasing her, like always. She was just cutting to the chase, that was all. </p>
<ul>
<li><em>No… I like your hair. </em></li>
</ul><p>Her cheeks went from just-a-little to dark pink in a flash.</p>
<hr/><p>Mamoru ran his hand down the back of his neck, suddenly worried his confession was too bold. After all, she’d swiped right on him, but maybe she’d been confused. Or maybe she swiped right on everyone…</p>
<ul>
<li>
<em>Lol yeah w/e </em>🙄</li>
</ul><p>...Or maybe she wouldn’t believe him at all.</p><p>There was a pause as he tried to figure out how to respond to that, strangely irritated rather than relieved at her lack of belief, but then the little bubbles in the corner of the screen started moving again before another message popped up.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<em>So what r u doing on Tinder? Dont tell me u have trouble getting dates </em>😂😂😂</li>
</ul><hr/><p>She knew she was fishing, but she couldn’t help it. She’d seen Mamoru around with girls here and there, but as far as she could tell he’d never had a long-term girlfriend. Motoki had gotten guarded and suspicious the one time she’d tried to pry information out of him about Mamoru’s personal life, so for all she knew Mamoru could have slept with every woman in Tokyo. <em>Except for her</em>.</p><p>She pushed the thought from her mind. After all, he’d matched with her, so he had to at least be open to changing that, right? </p>
<ul>
<li><em>Ha. I believe it was you who said I have the social skills of an emotionally stunted clam. Strangely, this hasn’t made me a big hit with women. </em></li>
</ul><p>Okay, so she had said that. But like, a CUTE clam. One of the ones you saw on Instagram with a little cartoon frowny-face painted on it, just waiting to be drawn out of his shell. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li>
<em>Well, they dont know what they r missing</em> 😉</li>
</ul><p>He chuckled, his heart fluttering in his throat. Usagi had never even implied before that she might like spending time with him. And now she was saying that other women were missing out on his company? Were he a less rational man, he would have pinched himself, just to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. </p><p>(He did dig a nail into his palm, though, to confirm that the sting was still there).</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>What, insults?</em></li>
</ul><p>She giggled, scrunching her toes into her purple comforter happily. These days, she didn’t really even mind the insults; it was kind of their thing, after all. And over the years, they’d softened into something… almost sweet? Familiar, at least. (She’d long since stopped trying to explain this perspective, as Minako mock-gagged any time it came up).</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li>
<em>Sometimes I get smiles 2. I like those </em>😉</li>
</ul><p>Mamoru smiled goofily into his phone. This was the conversation he’d always hoped to have with her, and now that he was, he felt his chest might just burst. But some nosy part of him still couldn’t help but question the fortuitousness of it all; his thumbs unconsciously typed the question he was really thinking.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>So why are you on Tinder? There’s no way you have trouble getting dates.</em></li>
</ul><p>Eyebrows arching up, Usagi stared down at the words on her screen. This was a good sign, right? Those magazines that Minako was always leaving around the apartment said that sometimes guys wouldn’t ask out girls they liked if they thought the girl was too intimidating so they wouldn’t risk being turned down. </p><p>Her heart started galloping - <em>Was Mamoru </em><strong><em>intimidated</em></strong><em> by her??</em> </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li>
<em>LOL Mina thought I needed a social life. But u still havent told me y ur here </em>🤨🤨🤨</li>
</ul><p>He couldn’t hold back his snort. Minako thought <em>everyone </em>needed a social life - he’d been roped into enough of her shenanigans over the years to be well aware of that. Evidently a single adult male who wanted nothing more from a Friday evening than to get ahead on his homework was anathema to her - but Usagi was usually in the thick of things right next to her. That was the whole reason Mamoru got caught up in Minako’s web of chaos so frequently. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Really? I find that hard to believe. </em></li>
</ul><p>She smiled, her heart giving a pleasant little flutter, and then his next message came through.</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Motoki said the same thing about me, which is less surprising. Well, it was Reika, really. Apparently I need a date for their wedding.</em></li>
</ul><p>Usagi pressed her lips together, suddenly reminded of the RSVP cards that Minako had stuck on their fridge - next to the photo of all the girls at Tokyo Disneyland from two years ago and the magnetic poetry they’d arranged into the dirtiest phases they could think of - when they’d arrived two weeks ago ‘so we’ll see them and won’t forget to send them back.’ </p><p>She really should get those in the mail…</p><p>But then her heart lurched. <em>Had Mamoru only swiped on her because he knew she was already going to the wedding? </em></p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Oh… so I guess u want me 2 go with u?</em></li>
</ul><p>Nearly two kilometers away, Mamoru’s heart was pounding. That meant she was open to it, right? Tsukino Usagi was open to going on a date with him? </p><p>If this was all some kind of misunderstanding, he might literally die. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>If you want to. It could be fun. </em></li>
</ul><p>Usagi’s stomach sank. He didn’t like her, after all. She was just the most convenient person for him to take to a wedding that he didn’t even really want to have a date for. </p><p>She’d started to type out a polite no-thank-you-and-good-night so she’d be free to curl herself around her pillow for a good sob when his next message chimed through:</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Or we could do something else. I could take you to dinner or to a cafe or we could go see a movie or something?</em></li>
</ul><hr/><p>Right after he pressed send, he longed to take the words back. <em>That was way too eager, he was going to scare her off!!</em></p><p>Before he could type a message to backtrack, to downplay it -<em> But only if you want to! </em>- the bubbles in the corner of the screen began pulsing, and then another message came through.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<em>U sure u dont mind being seen in public with odango atama </em>😂😂🤔</li>
</ul><p>His fingers fumbled across the screen in his frenzy to debunk <em>that</em> misperception.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>I told you already that I like your hair.</em></li>
</ul><p>Her stomach was squeezing so hard she thought she might be sick. She didn’t want to know if he liked her <em>hair.</em></p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>My hair is just the odangos. What about the atama?</em></li>
</ul><p>His thumbs froze over the phone screen. <em>Was she really asking him that?</em></p>
<hr/><p><em>Had she really asked him that?!? </em>She was nearly vibrating with anticipation when the next message came through, and she swiped her screen open with trembling thumbs.</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Would you be okay with being seen in public with Mamoru-baka? To be clear, I am both the Mamoru and the baka.</em></li>
</ul><p>Even though he hadn’t answered her question, she shook her head with a smile, charmed. It wasn’t fair that he always knew the right thing to say, and she said so.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li>
<em>How do u always know the right thing 2 say</em> 😝</li>
</ul><p>Now his eyebrow went up. He didn’t think Usagi had ever before implied that he <em>ever </em>knew the right thing to say, and he always felt like a quibbling mass of neuroses any time he got within five feet of her. It was the whole reason the stupid ‘Odango Atama’ nickname had come into being in the first place - his tongue got tied meeting her gorgeous blue eyes, and he’d said the first thing he could think of and regretted it ever since. </p><p>But if she thought he knew what he was doing, even despite that...</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Are you saying that you kinda like the baka? Because he would be less stupid if he didn’t like the atama...</em></li>
</ul><p>She read his message once, twice, and a third time just to be sure before she dropped her phone, cupping her hands to her cheeks with a squeal. He <em>did</em> like her!! He did!!!! </p>
<hr/><p>His ears were on fire. If she responded with anything other than ‘<em>I like you too</em>’ he was going to have to enroll in the first study abroad program that would take him and leave the country. There was no way he could continue walking around Azabujuban and running into her with her knowing how he felt but not reciprocating. <em>Motoki could find a new best man on short notice, right?</em> </p><p>As the seconds continued to lengthen, his thumb twitched once, twice, before he swiped out of the app and opened Chrome, typing ‘Keio medical school study abroad’ in the search bar. </p><p>He had just clicked on the first link, ‘Study Abroad and International Programs: Keio University” when “1 New Message on Tinder” popped up in the header of his phone. He swallowed hard and took a shaky inhale through his nose before he pressed his thumb to the banner, pulling up Tinder once more.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<em>I dont mind being seen in public with u </em>😘</li>
</ul><p>Well. That was close enough, wasn’t it?</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>What are you doing tomorrow night?</em></li>
</ul><p>She drummed her heels against the foot of her bed, tempted to squeal for Minako again. <em>Chiba Mamoru was asking her out!!! </em>Of course, knowing Minako, this would result in a reminder to use protection and to not get tied down by the first guy who showed an interest, so maybe calling for her wasn’t the right move. </p><p>That was okay, though. She was pretty sure she knew someone else who would get excited about this with her.</p>
<hr/><p>He’d started tapping his fingers against his phone case, his mind going into overdrive about what Usagi’s response might be. <em>But she’d said she wouldn’t mind being seen in public with him, so that meant she wanted him to ask her out, right?</em> He was debating reopening Chrome and resuming planning that semester abroad when her response chimed through. </p>
<ul>
<li><em>Depends on what u have in mind LOL</em></li>
</ul><p>He shook his head fondly. She <em>would</em> make asking her out difficult, wouldn’t she?</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Can I cook dinner for you? It’ll be Friday night so I understand if you have plans.</em></li>
</ul><p>She didn’t, but if she had had them, she would have cancelled. She’d been waiting <em>forever</em> for Mamoru to look twice at her, and now he wanted to cook her <em>dinner</em>? It was almost too good to be true, and she reached down and pinched her thigh, just in case. <em>Ouch! Nope, definitely awake.</em></p><p>Her smile was broad as she began typing her response.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>R U trying 2 lure me 2 ur apartment with food? </em></li>
</ul><p>His heart nearly seized. <em>Oh no, he should have thought…</em> Cooking had seemed less over-the-top, but now she thought he was just trying to get her into bed! </p><p>He immediately began backpedaling, but too late.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<em>Its like u know me or sth </em>😂😂😂</li>
</ul><p>His brief cardiac arrest abated as quickly as it had begun, and after a moment his trademark smirk curled up the corner of his lips. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Only if you want to. I wouldn’t want you to think my intentions are untoward. </em></li>
</ul><p>Her eyebrow arched up. <em>Fucking ‘untoward,’ really? </em>After a quick Google to make sure she was right about what that meant, she fired back her response.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>What if I want u 2 b untoward? </em></li>
</ul><p>His mouth fell agape. <em>That… had not been what he was expecting.</em> </p><p>He managed to close his mouth, swallowing into a suddenly dry throat. He couldn’t deny he thought about Usagi like that - those teeny tiny skirts she liked to prance around it made it almost impossible not to - but did she… was she… He didn’t know how to <em>talk </em>about any of that with her!</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Haha, very funny.</em></li>
</ul><p>She stared down at her phone, her brow furrowed. <em>Did he not…? But if he liked her, wouldn’t he… </em>She pressed her lips together. <em>Had she pushed him too far? </em>But he was the one who was worried about being ‘untoward’ and freaking her out. <em>Could he be asexual?</em> There was nothing wrong with that - in fact, it might explain why he’d never had a long-term girlfriend before - but if so, she’d need to <em>seriously</em> manage her expectations here. <em>Or... maybe he was just shy?</em></p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Im srs. Do u not think about me like that?</em></li>
</ul><p>He could feel his heartbeat in his ears. <em>She wanted to talk about </em><strong><em>that</em></strong><em>?</em></p><p>After staring helplessly at his phone for a moment, he blew out a harsh exhale. </p><p>Of <em>course </em>he thought about her like that - <em>how could he </em><strong><em>not</em></strong><em> think about her like that?</em> - but how was he supposed to explain something so... irrevocable in an impersonal text box with a character limit?!</p><p>Feeling like a man on the way to the gallows, he closed his eyes and typed.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>No… I do. </em></li>
</ul><p>The panic swelling up in her throat melted away at those five little letters. Chiba Mamoru not only liked her, he also thought about her in a sexual way. </p><p><em>How long had he... ? </em>Pressing her lips together, her mind flashed back to all the times in the past where she’d reigned herself in from acting on her feelings, from putting the slightest pressure on him. </p><p>Like the time that her friends machinations had gotten them both locked in the Crown’s supply closet and Mamoru had looked so uncomfortable with the whole thing that he might die, or just, every single time he’d ever started teasing her in the lobby of the arcade and all she wanted to do was fist her hands into his hair and pull his mouth to hers - That whole time, had he been thinking about her in the same way, too? </p><p>Her skin prickled as she remembered dark blue eyes tracing her curves, the way she sometimes thought he was looking at her a little too long, too hard, but convinced herself was just her imagination. She inhaled deeply, feeling her nipples tighten and her insides twist into a ball of yearning. <em>There was no fucking </em><strong><em>way </em></strong><em>she was letting him off the hook now, dammit. </em></p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Me 2</em></li>
</ul><p>Mamoru blinked down at his phone, mouth slightly open. His brain was caught on those two simple words - one of them not even spelled all the way out. <em>She thought about him in that way. </em><strong><em>Usagi </em></strong><em>thought about him like </em><strong><em>that</em></strong><em>. Usagi… </em>But as his brain slowly rebooted, he realized he had no idea how to respond to her. </p><p>What did you say when the woman of your dreams admitted that she thought about you <em>like that??</em></p><p>Fortunately, he was spared another trip to Google by a chime of his phone:</p>
<ul>
<li><em>What do u think about when u think about me like that?</em></li>
</ul><p>Oh, damn. She was really going to kill him. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>I actually think about your hair a lot.</em></li>
</ul><p><em>Her…? </em>Usagi snorted in disbelief, wrapping a finger into one pigtail and enjoying the soft slide of her hair against her hand. Then, she smiled wickedly down at her phone. <em>He had </em><strong><em>balls, </em></strong><em>calling her ‘Odango Atama’ and pretending not to like her when he was secretly thinking about her hair all the time. </em>She wasn’t about to stand for <em>that</em> anymore.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li>
<em>O yah?</em> 🤔<em> What do u think about it?</em>
</li>
</ul><p>Despite several years of education assuring him that it wasn’t possible, Mamoru was pretty sure he was about to die of embarrassment. <em>How was he supposed to respond to that?!?</em> </p><p>He’d only said her hair in the first place because, well. It was less incriminating than any of the other parts of her that he sometimes thought about, plus he <em>did</em> think about it a fair amount. It was just so pretty, all spun-gold silk…</p><p>He cringed out his exhale, thumbs flying across the screen before he could second-guess himself even more. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>I wonder if it’s as soft as it looks.</em></li>
</ul><p>Blue eyes widened with delight as her fingers slid through blonde hair that was, in fact, quite soft to the touch. But it was the next sentence that left her stunned. </p>
<ul>
<li><em>Sometimes I wonder what it would feel like wrapped in my fist.</em></li>
</ul><p>His words jolted to her core, and she felt liquid fire pool deep in her belly. She flushed - everywhere - and smoothed a hand along a heated cheek. Momentarily, she wondered if she was a hentai, if the idea of Mamoru tugging on her pigtails could make her react like <em>this</em>.</p>
<hr/><p>His ears were burning. <em>Had he really just said that?</em> Even if she’d asked, that felt like a bit… much, to have admitted. Maybe she liked him, maybe she thought about him too, but it was still hard to imagine he wouldn’t find some way to ruin this. </p>
<ul>
<li>
<em>WTF u fantasize about pulling my hair?!? </em>😱😱😱</li>
</ul><p>No!! There was no other way to say it, so he just said it outright. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>No, I fantasize about kissing you.</em></li>
</ul><p>Her chest swelled and she gaped at the screen, lips curving up until her cheeks ached.</p><p>That momentary flash of horror at the thought that Mamoru’s pigtail-pulling might not be just metaphorical faded, and her teeth dug into her lower lip. </p><p>Now that he’d put it out there, though, she could actually get on board with that idea… Forceful Mamoru grabbing her and kissing her? Mmm.</p><p>Exhaling out the tension, she settled more comfortably into her pillows, sliding one foot up and down along the silky skin of her calf as she typed her response.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li>
<em>U should try it sometime, I would let u </em>😉</li>
</ul><p>He didn’t know how to respond to that. At all. Normally, when he felt this feeling, he called her an Odango Atama and asked if she’d failed a test today, effectively creating distance between them. But now… </p><p>There was a brief pause as he tried to backtrack his previous panic, but then something he wasn’t prepared for happened.</p>
<ul>
<li><em>What else do u fantasize about?</em></li>
</ul><p>He very nearly dropped his phone. <em>Was this… was she…</em> He reread the sentence, but her question remained unchanged. <em>Was Usagi trying to sext with him?!?</em></p><p>Or, a possibly even-more-frightening possibility: What if she <em>wasn’t</em> trying to sext with him and he was completely misinterpreting her meaning and made it weird??</p><p>His eyes flicked to her words again, which still clearly read ‘<em>What else do u fantasize about?’</em> Was there room for misinterpretation in that? It was pretty straightforward, right? She was asking him…</p><p>The bubbles started moving again, cutting off his train of thought as he instead sat back to watch her think. </p>
<ul>
<li>
<em>Sry. U dont have 2 answer that. I got carried away </em>😳</li>
</ul><p>His stomach twisted. She <em>was</em> asking him that; he wasn’t misinterpreting or reading too much into it. And even though it would probably happen sooner or later, there was no chance he was going to ruin this on purpose or let her think he wasn’t actually interested. </p><p>That said, he was pretty sure just saying ‘you’ would freak her out, even with how much she seemed to be leading him. So he softened it, still blushing furiously as he typed. </p>
<hr/><p>Usagi was no longer sprawled out in her comfy position on the bed. Instead, she was sitting in half-lotus, hunched over her phone screen and worrying a lock of her hair between her fingers. <em>She’d totally made it weird</em>. She’d assumed Mamoru would play along and he’d said he wanted to kiss her and so she figured she could take this all the way… And like, how could she not have known that doing that was <em>so not Mamoru</em>? After all, he didn’t flit around with girls and he always had his nose in a book and even if-</p><p>Her phone chimed, interrupting her spiraling thoughts, and she unlocked it with wide eyes.</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Sometimes, late at night, I wish you were in my arms.</em></li>
</ul><p>Her exhale carried a surprising amount of weight. <em>Thank god. She hadn’t ruined it. </em></p><p>Adorable as he may be, she couldn’t forget that Chiba Mamoru was still a tightly wound clam, and if she pushed him too hard he might close up on her all over again. <em>And she </em><strong><em>really</em></strong><em> didn’t want that</em>. </p><p>But now he was responding again - and even answering her original question! <em>Did that mean he was okay with this after all? </em></p><p>She wasn’t sure she’d ever be fully confident about how to handle Mamoru, but if he was still willing to play along with her, she was willing to push this a little further. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>O yeah? If I was what would u want to do 2 me? </em></li>
</ul><p>His mouth went dry. There was no misinterpreting <em>that</em>. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li>
<em>Everything</em>.</li>
</ul><p>She bounced her ankles against the bed, heart pounding. <em>He was definitely playing along with her.</em> Now she just had to keep him talking.</p><p>His incredibly vague fantasy - <em>everything, really?</em> - did very nearly make her snort, but she was ultimately pleased. After all, he’d given her <em>something</em>, and she was more than willing to help him get more specific. </p><p>Eyes sparkling, Usagi smirked and stretched languidly along her mattress. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>LOL that is not very sexy</em></li>
</ul><p>Mamoru flushed to his roots. <em>Well, what did she expect?! It wasn’t like he’d ever done this before!</em></p>
<ul>
<li><em>Its ok Mamo-chan. I can tell u what id like u 2 do 2 me if u want</em></li>
</ul><p>He nodded vigorously before realizing that she couldn’t actually see him; heart beating double-time in his chest, he asked her directly for more.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Please.</em></li>
</ul><hr/><ul>
<li><em>Sometimes in Crown when ur sitting there reading and smirking I think about u pushing me up against the Sailor V game and running ur tongue down my neck</em></li>
</ul><p>He stared blankly at his phone - blood cascaded through his body in a tumult, and he barely had enough left in his brain to assemble a coherent thought, let alone a witty response to such a bold statement. </p><p>Swallowing hard, the vision she’d painted formed before his eyes. The thought of engaging in such possessive behavior had crossed his mind before - usually when she was flirting with Motoki right in front of him - but the idea that she thought about it too? That she <em>imagined it</em> enough to be able to pull it out here and share it with him so casually?</p><p>He squirmed against his couch, pants suddenly uncomfortably tight. </p><p>Typing the first thing that came to his mind, he just hoped it would be enough to keep her talking like this. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>I think about doing that when you flirt with Motoki.</em></li>
</ul><p>She couldn’t help the ironic laugh that bubbled out of her. <em>Years</em> of fruitlessly attempting to make him jealous, only to find out on fucking <em>Tinder </em>that it had actually been working?? </p><p>Better late than never, but <em>jeeze</em>, she was starting to really think Minako had been right - they could have been together <em>years</em> ago if only one of them had <em>said </em>something.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li>
<em>!!! I only flirt with Motoki 2 make u jealous </em>😂😂😂</li>
</ul><p>His rushing blood momentarily slammed to a halt in his cranium, and he sat stunned by this admission. </p><p>It was one thing if she said she liked him. Or if she sometimes thought about him in that way, too. Or even that she’d had the same lurid fantasy of him kissing her breathless against the game machines in the Crown. All of those things could be explained away. </p><p>But the idea that Usagi flirted with Motoki for <em>his</em> benefit? She thought about him enough that she wanted him to be jealous, planned out ways to make him notice her? </p><p>He was left breathless with the sudden knowledge: This wasn’t just him, feeling this sharp ache of longing. This was something real. </p><p>But he wasn’t prepared to introduce the gravity of that realization to this conversation, to risk disrupting the easy flirtation Usagi was leading them along. There would be time for that later.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Minx.</em></li>
</ul><p>An intoxicating surge of power coursed through her limbs. Normally she disliked being branded a tease, but when it was Mamoru… it was a little bit hot, to have him think that of her. Besides, it was kind of accurate.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li>
<em>Had 2 get ur attention somehow </em>😘 </li>
</ul><hr/><ul>
<li><em>Believe me, you have it.</em></li>
</ul><p>She ran her tongue over her teeth, a broad grin spreading across her face. </p><p>So long as she <em>had</em> his attention...</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>After u pin me 2 the machine, what do u do 2 me next?</em></li>
</ul><p>His heart was pounding. There were so many things he wanted to do to her, at least half a dozen ways that his brain had played out this lewd scenario while either at the counter in the Crown or back home in his bed later that night. </p><p>He’d never expected to be in a position to <em>tell </em>her about any of those fantasies, though, and he certainly wasn’t prepared to tell her about any of the really dirty things he’d imagined. His face reddened just thinking about it. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>I’d like to trace the shell of your ear with my tongue. </em></li>
</ul><p>A tingle ran along her neck and down through her body; her thighs brushed together as she adjusted her position on the bed, and she sucked her lower lip into her mouth, digging her teeth into it.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Mmmmmm. Then what?</em></li>
</ul><p>He swallowed hard, a heady feeling sweeping through him. <em>He </em><strong><em>desperately </em></strong><em>wanted to hear her make that sound in person</em>. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Then Motoki yells at us that this is a family establishment, so I take your hand and lead you back to my place. </em></li>
</ul><p>Her jaw dropped open before she burst out laughing. Minako would be horrified by the lapse in sextiquette, but it was so damn <em>Mamoru.</em></p>
<hr/><ul>
<li>😂😂 <em>so srs even when ur fantasizing!</em>
</li>
</ul><hr/><ul>
<li><em>No, I just need an excuse to get you far away from witnesses. </em></li>
</ul><p>Her giggles stopped as his words left her breathless. She wanted to know - badly - just what Mamoru wanted to do to her in private, but she wasn’t sure she was ready to cede the upper hand back quite yet.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>What if im into that?</em></li>
</ul><p>He froze. Never, in all the times he’d imagined a world where Usagi felt the same way about him, had he imagined one where she had some kind of voyeurism kink. </p><p>His thumbs hovered over the screen for a long breath, in and out, before he decided that, if he was willing to attempt to sext for this woman, there weren’t many things he wouldn’t be willing to try with her at least once. <em>Public decency laws be damned</em>.</p><p>Nonetheless, his cheeks were a vivid scarlet as he typed his response.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>We can try it next time. But I want the first time to be special. </em></li>
</ul><p>She inhaled into the glow of her chest, apples of her cheeks creasing as she didn’t even bother to try to fight her silly grin. It would be special no matter what - <em>it was her and Mamoru!</em> - but she wriggled with pleasure at his thoughtfulness. </p><p>However, she did want him to be just a <em>little</em> less thoughtful...</p>
<hr/><p>Meanwhile, Mamoru was drumming his fingers against the arm of his couch, a bundle of nervous anticipation as he waited for her reply. </p><p>Though he hadn’t admitted how many hours he’d wasted away imagining ways he might make their first time special - the flowers, the music, the food - his heart was still pounding from the implications of his half-confession. No matter how into this she seemed, he couldn’t shake the fear that he was going to push too far and screw this up.</p>
<ul>
<li><em>When u pull me in the elevator I drag u down and start kissing u</em></li>
</ul><p>He felt his cock jump in his pants, and he swallowed down the lump in his throat. <em>Actually, that might do it.</em></p>
<hr/><p>Running her tongue along tingling lips, she watched with breathless fascination as the bubbles in the corner of the screen pulsed, her entire being centered on her need to see Mamoru’s reply. </p>
<ul>
<li><em>And I pull away, press a kiss to your neck, and whisper ‘Usako, be patient.’</em></li>
</ul><p>Her beating heart positively seized at the endearment, and she pressed her thighs together in an attempt to quell the ache between them. She wasn’t patient, had never been patient, and she couldn’t remember ever wanting anything <em>this much</em> before. She didn’t just want, she <em>needed</em> Mamoru’s hands on her. </p><p>And now… Mamoru was calling her <em>his</em>, Mamoru was telling her the ways he fantasized about her, and Mamoru had the gall to tell her to <em>wait more</em>?! </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>I dont want 2 b patient Ive been waiting 4 u way 2 long</em></li>
</ul><p>His heart stuttered. He knew well how impatient Tsukino Usagi could be - had heard her announce that if she didn’t get a milkshake in the next twenty seconds she would ‘literally die’ at least a dozen times, had watched her lose interest in her homework because it was ‘taking too long’ on countless occasions. </p><p>But if there was one thing that Chiba Mamoru knew, it was how to dedicate himself to something, how to wait for the eventual payoff. And, even if she’d rather not have to wait, he knew how much Tsukino Usagi liked to indulge - he didn’t mind teaching her a thing or two about how pleasurable delayed gratification could be.</p>
<hr/><p>Her thumb was already digging into the meat of her inner thigh when his reply came though, and as she read his words, she dragged her fingernails up along her skin.</p>
<ul>
<li><em>And I’ve been waiting too long to waste this on a quickie in the elevator. I want to take my time. I want to see you pant and beg on my couch as I tease and tease you before I finally make you scream as you come undone around me. </em></li>
</ul><p>She squirmed against her mattress, her covert memorization of the layout of Mamoru’s apartment the few times she’d picked Ami up after a study session serving her well as she imagined it now. </p><p>She could picture Mamoru shoving his coffee table to the side to make room before pressing her down on his cream-colored couch, kissing her so thoroughly that she forgot how to breathe, realized that she didn’t even want to anymore. </p><p>Her breath was a shuddering inhale as her toes curled involuntarily into her worn blankets. <em>Okay. Maybe she could be patient.</em> </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Ok I can wait. But when we get up 2 ur apartment I am going right 4 that couch</em></li>
</ul><p>His grip on his phone tightened and his eyes flicked to the empty space on the cushions next to him. </p><p>Though she’d been inside his apartment a few times, Usagi had never made it past the genkan before; if he was going to take his time with her, make it count the way he wanted it to... </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>No, you aren’t. Instead, I catch you by the pigtail and pull you back so that you’re facing me, and then I kiss you. I’ve been waiting so, so long to kiss you.</em></li>
</ul><p>Her teeth sank into her lower lip with a hiss. It wasn’t fair for her to find this out when he was almost two kilometers away, when she could feel that distance like an ache, the absence of his lips on hers a painful sting. </p><p>She wanted to be there. She wanted him <em>here. </em>Whatever else happened, she wanted this to come true, needed it to be real. She had to <em>know</em> that she would get to kiss him, soon. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>If u dont kiss me 4 real the next time I see u I may actually die</em></li>
</ul><p>For once, he was in wholehearted agreement with her dramatics. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>I’m going to.</em></li>
</ul><p>His reply was nearly immediate, and his quiet certainty squeezed her heart. Her thumb traced the line of her phone case, and she watched as the little bubbles in the corner of the screen beat a silent pulse to show he had more to say. </p>
<ul>
<li><em>For now, I kiss you in the genkan, and I push you up against the door like I did that arcade machine. I kiss your mouth, your eyelids, your neck. I drop my head down and drag my tongue along your cleavage. Do you remember that low-cut dress you wore to Motoki’s birthday party? It was like you wore it just to torture me. All night, the only thing I could think about was how badly I wanted to touch you. I want to make you as crazy as you make me.</em></li>
</ul><p>She closed her eyes and inhaled sharply, almost able to feel Mamoru’s wooden door against her back. She could picture the vase of roses he kept on the little dresser in his genkan, how they might shake from the impact when he trapped her against the door. Her skin quivered with longing as she envisioned the press of his lips, ghosting first across her face and then down her neck and chest. </p><p><em>She </em><strong><em>had</em></strong><em> picked out that dress in the hopes that Mamoru might finally notice her in it.</em> Knowing he still remembered it, thought about her wearing it months later, left her dizzy, desire pooling low in her belly. </p><p>She swallowed hard and dug her heel into the mattress. </p><p>There was just no way she could be having this kind of effect on him. It couldn’t be possible for them <em>both</em> to be feeling this much. </p>
<hr/><p>He’d sent his last message at least a minute ago, and now Mamoru stared down at his screen, heart threatening to beat out of his ribcage, worrying yet again that he’d taken it too far, that he’d made her uncomfortable. Her silence dragged on with no sign of stopping; the three dots in the corner of the screen remained still.</p><p>He’d just started to formulate an apology in his head - to explain that this time <em>he’d </em>gotten carried away - when the bubbles began to move again. </p>
<ul>
<li><em>U have no idea how crazy u make me. Ive been wanting u to kiss me since the day we met</em></li>
</ul><p><em>The day we…?? </em>He growled under his breath. <em>All that wasted time not knowing how to talk to her, while she’d secretly felt the same way?! </em></p><p>Part of him wanted to get up and go find Usagi <em>right now</em> so that he could fix this, could finally kiss her for real instead of just typing about it. The rest of him was being held captive on his couch by the throbbing problem in his lap. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>You mean I could have been kissing you for the last five years?!</em></li>
</ul><p>Usagi nodded down at her screen. <em>Yes, baka, yes, we could have been.</em> However, she wasn’t about to let a silly little thing like their past miscommunications get in the way of things <em>now</em>. </p><p>Why cry over spilt milk, when there were better ways they could be making up for the lost time?</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>I told u that u should try it sometime!!</em></li>
</ul><p>It was Mamoru’s turn to hiss out an exhale as his memory barraged him with all of the moments that he’d held himself back from doing exactly that. </p><p>That time when Minako had swiped Motoki’s keys and somehow managed to trap Mamoru and Usagi in the tiny supply closet of the Crown, and he’d practically sat on his hands for half an hour before Motoki realized where they’d gone. </p><p>All those times they’d started yelling at each other in the middle of Juuban-dori, Usagi’s cheeks flushed pink and her eyes alight with indignation as she’d jabbed at his chest, invading his personal space and making it hard to think about anything besides her mouth. </p><p>The day of Usagi’s high school graduation, when she’d been so giddy on adrenaline and cake that she’d half-jumped into his arms and he’d been left so panicky and flustered that he’d nearly dropped her on her ass. </p><p>The literally hundreds of times that he’d steadied her after she’d bumped into him on the street, and he’d held onto her for just a second longer than was probably appropriate because he didn’t want to let go. </p><p>And he could have kissed her. Every single time. </p><p>A rumble rose in his chest, his thumbs typing furiously.</p>
<hr/><p>Her shallow breaths were interrupted entirely by his next message:</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Now I’m really gonna have to torture you to make up for lost time.</em></li>
</ul><p>She pressed her knees together, feeling the liquid rush dampen the boyshort panties she wore. He’d been torturing her inadvertently for years; she could barely imagine what he could do to her if he was actually trying, and <em>god</em> did she want to find out.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Yes plz</em></li>
</ul><p>His throat was dry as his memory continued to taunt him with all those times that he could have touched her and didn’t. He could see her perfectly in his mind’s eye - every detail of the curve of her cheeks, the sparkle of her smile - and when his eyes flicked to the empty space on the couch next to him, he imagined Usagi appearing there, waiting and willing. </p><p>She wanted to be touched by him just as badly as he wanted to touch her. </p><p>His thumbs moved without his conscious awareness. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>What are you wearing?</em></li>
</ul><p>The cliche barely even registered. Instead, candy-pink fingernails dug into bunnies and moons and she typed with her free hand, eyes frantic.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>What do u want me to b wearing?</em></li>
</ul><p>The shudder began in his shoulders, but quickly ran down his spine, his legs, back up to his skull and left him boneless. </p><p><em>Anything. Nothing. </em>His imagination wasn’t prepared to run unrestricted with Tsukino Usagi - not even with her permission. Just imagining her on his couch felt salacious, and now she was asking him to undress her? </p><p>No, no, he needed more context for this. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>I need to know what you’re wearing so I know what I’m taking off of you.</em></li>
</ul><p>A shiver rocketed through her nerves. She rolled to her side, pressing her eyelids tightly closed so she could imagine what Mamoru might do if he were here, laying on the bed next to her. His fingers would trail up her hipbone before digging in, she decided, and she’d wrap her calf around his before pulling him into a forceful kiss. </p><p>He’d roll on top of her, pressing her down into the mattress and forcing her thighs apart with his own as she gasped for air. His fingers would trail up her body, twisting into the fabric of her pajamas as he wrestled with the supposed implications of undressing her. </p><p>But she could help him out with that. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Pink spaghetti tank top and boyshorts. No bra.</em></li>
</ul><p>It was Mamoru’s turn to shudder, his tight grip on his phone turning his fingertips white. He could picture her perfectly, pinned to the beige couch under him, the soft planes of her partially clad body taunting him even as her blue eyes were nothing but innocence beneath his touch. His cock leapt to attention, pulsating with need.</p><p>Like so many times before, she stared up at him with pleading eyes and soft lips as he fought to control himself - the only difference was that this time, unlike all those past times, he knew how desperately she wanted his hands on her, too. </p><p>And for perhaps the first time in his life, he was more than willing to oblige. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>I push you down on my couch and slip my hands up under your tank top so I can caress your stomach. I bend down and run my tongue along the exposed flesh of your abdomen, kiss your belly button. I can’t decide if I should move up to your breasts or down between your thighs.</em></li>
</ul><p>Usagi twisted her comforter in her fist as her hips involuntarily bucked up and away from the bed. <em>Damn him.</em> </p><p>One foot flexed into her bedding, dragging it along as she tried to fight down her desire, to suppress her urge to overwhelm Mamoru with her feelings, to scare him off. </p><p><em>But he was asking, wasn’t he?</em> The ache inside her was sharp as she pressed her knees together to quell the longing so she could type her needy reply.</p>
<hr/><p>His fingers flexed against his phone case as wide eyes watched the bubbles move in a staccato rhythm. His face was burning crimson, the baldness of his words left him feeling exposed. <em>What if she said that ‘wasn’t very sexy’ again?</em> He wanted to impress her, to please her, but had he been too wordy? Was his inexperience obvious?</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Down down down plz</em></li>
</ul><p>The momentary vision of her - her face flushed and head thrown back as she spread her legs, pleading for him to pleasure her - nearly undid him completely. </p><p>But he reigned himself in again, his hand clenching as the lingering embarrassment drained from his chest, replaced instead with a shiver of utmost satisfaction. When he’d said that he wanted to make her beg, it had been without true understanding of what that meant, how intoxicating it would feel. </p><p>Now...</p>
<hr/><p>Usagi’s nails dug crescent moons into her thigh as her thumb traced the line of her panties. Her breath came out in shallow gasps as she waited for Mamoru’s reply, for his permission to touch herself and pretend it was him doing it.</p>
<ul>
<li><em>I push up your shirt, dragging my tongue up your abs. Your pink nipple appears, and I lick it into my mouth.</em></li>
</ul><p>Her whine was loud, desperate, as she dug her fingers into the flesh of her inner thigh. </p><p>She felt cheated, as though Mamoru had offered her something and then taken it away at the last moment because he knew it would drive her out of her mind. <em>He’d done it on purpose, she just knew it.</em> </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>But I said down</em></li>
</ul><p>He could almost hear the exasperated way that she would say this, were she more substantial than words on his phone screen and a vision pinned beneath him on the couch. He longed to lick his way up her throat and whisper teasing words into her ear, to hear her voice rise in pitch as she pleaded with him for real.</p><p>But there would be time for that. Time to map her body with his tongue, to memorize the intimate sounds that she would make when driven to the brink, to learn how to take her there but not tip her over until after she became incoherent with need. </p><p>That new promise of time was nearly as heady an aphrodisiac as her words. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>And I said that you would need to be patient.</em></li>
</ul><p>Her center quaked and sent tremors coursing through her whole body. </p><p>No, she still didn’t want to be patient - not at all - but she was confident Mamoru would make it worth her while. Her limbs were on fire, and he hadn’t even touched her yet - imagining the things he might do to her when he had her in person made her toes curl. </p><p>Of course, that didn’t mean she was going to go along with Mamoru’s plans politely - after all, she never had before. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Mean</em></li>
</ul><hr/><ul>
<li><em>You already knew that.</em></li>
</ul><p>And she did. She’d called him as much - worse, even - literally dozens of times in the past. Still, she couldn’t remember ever being quite <em>this </em>frustrated with him before. </p><p>Running her teeth over her tingling bottom lip, her brow furrowed with resolve. It was time for her to stop being coy. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Mamo-chan I want u 2 touch me</em></li>
</ul><p>His breath shuddered as his imagination painted her all over again, splayed out on his couch with her shirt pushed up to reveal her breasts, squirming beneath him, begging him. </p><p>Begging him to touch her. </p><p>And oh, how he wanted to. His fingers, and then his whole body, trembled. He wanted to touch her, so badly. But he couldn’t waste this, not when he wanted it to be forever; he had waited for her for too damn long for it to end so quickly. </p><p>He would touch her, but he would take his time doing it. He would make this last.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>I run my fingertips along your thighs. I often wonder if you wear those tiny little skirts just to torment me. I think that you do. I slip my fingers under the hem of your shorts as I kiss your nipples, but then I stop.</em></li>
</ul><p>Her eyes were wide as she licked her lips, nipples pebbled and aching as she wondered why on earth he would ever want to stop. And then, he told her:</p>
<ul>
<li><em>You should know what it’s like to want for once.</em></li>
</ul><p>She let out a whine, digging the balls of her feet into her mattress. Tossing her head one way, then the other, her long hair whipped against her knees as she tightened her grip on her phone. </p><p>Any other time, she would have responded to this as the patent bullshit that it was, would have called him out for being patronizing and narrow-minded. But she was too worked up, too frantic to worry now about who was right and who was wrong. There would be time to figure that out later, after - assuming she even cared by then.</p><p>Right now, though, the only thing that mattered was making Mamoru stop toying with her.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>I push u down onto the couch and climb on top of u. I know what it is 2 want and Im not going 2 do it anymore when I know u want me 2</em></li>
</ul><p>It was Mamoru’s turn to catch his breath, the bulge in his pants growing until his world centered on a pinpoint of need. </p><p>He’d spent half a decade bickering with this woman - he knew she took no shit - and yet when he’d fantasized about her, his imagination rarely painted her as sexually assertive. But she clearly was, and in hindsight it was obvious that she would be.</p><p>He quivered as his imagination flipped - no longer was Usagi pinned beneath him, at his mercy; instead, she held him captive between her thighs, and he was mesmerized.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Your hair is as soft as I always imagined as I twine it in my fists and pull your face down to mine.</em></li>
</ul><p>Her stomach squeezed, sending a fresh rush of desire pooling between her legs. <em>God, why had they still never kissed?</em> Her lips felt bee-stung, aching with the gross injustice of desperately craving his touch, his kiss, without the knowledge of what it would feel like to finally be sated. </p><p>Instead of dwelling on that unfairness, she closed her eyes and allowed her body to lead her, rolling over to kneel on her bed as she imagined Mamoru’s fingers tangled in her hair and his face just beneath hers, his eyes watching her all hazy with wanting. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>I kiss u and kiss u and then I am pulling off ur shirt and Ive always wanted 2 know if ur as cut as I think u r under that awful jacket</em></li>
</ul><p>Her dig on his clothes made him laugh; he cupped his face in his hand as he chortled, momentarily losing the vision of dream-Usagi in his lap as she collided with the scrunched-nose Usagi who sassed him at the counter of the Crown. And then, suddenly, they were one and the same, and he was again trapped under her, pinned yet again by the complexity of wanting one person so completely. </p><p>Unprepared to fight it, he let her take the lead again.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li>
<em>How ‘cut’</em> <em>do you think I am?</em>
</li>
</ul><p>She snorted, a sharp smirk curling her cheek.</p><p>She’d spent hours imagining Mamoru, sometimes in the bed next to her and sometimes just in the abstract, but either way she had a pretty clear picture in her head of what she thought he looked like underneath his clothes. </p><p>Dazed with the sudden rush of certainty that he’d spent hours picturing the same thing - knowing that was why he’d (correctly) guessed earlier that her nipples were pink - she sucked in an inhale. </p><p>Her grip on the phone tightened as she typed, realizing that there were some things she wouldn’t be able to learn so long as he was 1.9 km away… and that there were some things she still could. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Send me a pic and Ill let u know how close I was</em></li>
</ul><p>Mamoru was out of his shirt and taking an awkwardly angled selfie of his abs before he could think twice about it. By the time he’d clicked the ‘send’ button, his brain had begun to catch up with his dick enough to wonder if this had been the best idea, but then he got Usagi’s reply and he stopped thinking at all. </p>
<ul>
<li>🤤🤤🤤 <em>even hotter than I thought</em>
</li>
</ul><hr/><p>Her eyes continued to trace the lines of his abs - defined, but not pronounced. He was all lean muscle, and she itched to run her hands along his stomach, to straddle him and lick his pectoral muscles, nip at the cords of his neck. The next message appeared on her screen: </p>
<ul>
<li><em>Tit for tat.</em></li>
</ul><p>Her grin broadened. </p>
<hr/><p>His fingers were curled around his phone in breathless anticipation as he waited for her response. When it came, he really did forget how to breathe. </p>
<ul>
<li><em>Thats not what I want to show u</em></li>
</ul><p>His thumbs were heavy and fumbling as his mind envisioned every single part of Usagi, ready and willing and spread out beneath him; it took him multiple tries before he was able to type out his next message.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>I want to see. Show me. Please. </em></li>
</ul><p>Usagi smoothed her hands down her thighs, running her nails along skin that buzzed deliciously before she answered in her cheekiest, most defiant way. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Uh-uh. I think u need to learn what it is 2 want</em></li>
</ul><p>His eyelashes fluttered against his cheeks as he groaned. His body thrummed, and yet he felt cheated, empty. But he couldn’t be mad. <em>Turnabout was fair play, after he’d made her beg earlier. He should have expected nothing less from her.</em></p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>You’re evil. </em></li>
</ul><hr/><ul>
<li>😘</li>
</ul><p>He could picture her, primly adjusting her pigtails, all propriety and faux-innocence even as she pinned him beneath rolling hips, mostly undressed by his own hand and desperate for more. </p>
<ul>
<li><em>U made me wait five years. U can wait a few days.</em></li>
</ul><p>His heart positively pounded. Now it was he who didn’t want to wait, but he would. He would wait forever for her - but only if that was what she truly wanted. </p><p>And he knew that it wasn’t.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>I hook my hands behind your legs and flip us over so I am on top of you again. I pull off your shorts and bury my face in your belly, nipping and licking my way down to your thighs. I want to taste you.</em></li>
</ul><p>She shivered, pressing her knees together to suppress the humming between her thighs. Her free hand was a tight fist, trying to resist touching herself until Mamoru said it was okay.</p><p>But she didn’t <em>want </em>to wait, and surely he wouldn’t mind if she pushed him along a little bit, would he?</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Ur head drops between my thighs and I moan when u lick me</em></li>
</ul><p>Mamoru licked his lips, hissing as his fingers brushed against the fabric covering his erection for the first time. He curled his fingers into his pant leg, trying to contain these whorling feelings before he overwhelmed her with them. </p><p>She was trapped beneath him again, and this time she was naked, the pink of her vulva exposed and quivering beneath his hands. And she was asking - <em>begging </em>- him to put his tongue on her. </p><p>How could he deny her something they both so clearly wanted?</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>I want to make you come.</em></li>
</ul><p>At those words, Usagi finally lost the battle with herself. Her fingertips slipped under the band of her panties and between her thighs to trace her slit, slick with anticipation. She pressed her lips together with a low exhale, nearly overwhelmed by her desire.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Tell me how u want me 2 touch myself</em></li>
</ul><p>His heartbeat nearly stopped at her words. He tried to formulate a response and fumbled - he had no experience pleasuring a woman. But he knew someone who did.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>No. Tell me how to touch you. What do you like?</em></li>
</ul><p>She flushed slightly, one finger tracing her lower lips. Such a personal question… but there was no one she’d rather tell. </p><p>Her tongue curled along her teeth as she dragged her forefinger up to press along her clit and she trembled.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>I want ur tongue on my clit</em></li>
</ul><p>He swallowed once, twice. He ached with the longing to really touch her, to taste her, 1.9 km away, and the fingers of his left hand fumbled to unfasten his fly. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Soft or hard?</em></li>
</ul><p>Her fingers pressed firmly against her clit, sending a jolt of pure pleasure rocketing down her spine, and she gasped as fantasy-Mamoru pressed her into the bed, trapped her under his hands. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Hard. Oh god Mamo-chan Ive waited so long I cant wait much longer</em></li>
</ul><p>Her words shuddered through his body and he squeezed the head of his cock. He sucked a breath through his teeth and imagined pressing his mouth to her center, using his tongue to caress her with firm, precise pressure, making her writhe beneath him. </p><p>His grip on his cock tightened as he pictured the noises she would make, her salty-sweet taste. </p><p>But it wasn’t enough for him, not yet. Maybe not ever.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>I want to see you come undone</em></li>
</ul><p>She whimpered, one finger half inside of her as another dragged against her clit and sent shockwaves reverberating throughout her body. </p><p>She felt overwhelmed by sensation, too full and too empty all at the same time. She quavered as she breathed in, eyes nearly closed, bracing herself and allowing his weight to press her into the mattress.</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Fuck mamo god</em></li>
</ul><p>His swallow was hard and his eyes dazed from her message. His fist tightened around his erection in a long, slow stroke, and he released a low groan as he dragged his fist down. </p><p>Tsukino-fucking-Usagi was becoming incoherent from touching herself and thinking of <em>him</em>.</p><p>It was better than his wildest fantasies, and she wasn’t even in the room with him yet. </p><p>His breathing shallowed and his balls tightened as his existence centered down to nothing but Usagi: Her face, flushed rosy pink as she tossed her head from side to side, her chest, with pebbled nipples heaving up and down in short panting gasps, her flexing abs, her quavering thighs. His fingers buried themselves deep inside her and his tongue stroked insistently as she babbled her pleasure. </p><p>Sensation coiled tight in his spine, his fingers curling around his phone case instead of Usagi’s upper thigh. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>I can’t wait to really touch you</em></li>
</ul><p>Her eyes were half-delirious when she opened them to the chime of her phone. Her left hand was completely occupied, her brain deep in a heady fantasy of Mamoru that was only sharpened in its intensity by the knowledge that yes - oh yes - he wanted this too, wanted to touch her, to drag his fingers across her sex and drive her to the edge of desire.</p><p>Her moan was small, but powerful in its neediness, her legs stretching long across the cotton of her bedding. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Touch me plz touch me i want u plz plz plz</em></li>
</ul><p>His grip squeezed hard around his cock and he took a shallow inhale in, trying poorly to level himself out. The dream-Usagi who was pinned under him on his couch and the real-Usagi pleading in his phone were both holding on by little more than a thread, and while he didn’t want to lose control before her, he wasn’t sure how much say he really had in that at this point. </p><p>His eyes fluttered closed as he took a gasping breath, his fingers flexing around his erection. His entire body wound tight like a coiled spring, seconds from an explosive recoil. <em>Why hadn’t it occurred to him to swap phone numbers, so he could call her now and hear her voice? </em></p><p>He knew if he heard her that he would lose control instantly, but he wanted to hear her. He needed to <em>know</em> the sounds of her orgasm. </p><p>Even just imagining it sent sensation shuddering throughout him and he grunted, gasped as his control slipped away; every muscle in his body spasmed before leaving him limp and boneless and utterly sated on the couch, his fingers and abdomen coated in his release. </p><p>But his satisfaction only lasted a moment before the panic set in - <em>He wasn’t supposed to finish first!!</em></p>
<hr/><p>First, second, Usagi didn’t know the difference. Her phone was face down on her belly as one hand caressed her breast, the other pressed firmly between her legs. Her neck arched back and she tossed her head in a silent scream as pleasure shuddered through her every pore. </p><p>She didn’t open her eyes again until the aftershocks had passed, contentment diffusing across her whole being and curving her mouth into a sleepy smile. </p><p>She turned her phone over again to find a few new messages - a minute or two old, but after all, she’d been busy.</p>
<ul>
<li><em>I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to disappear!!! </em></li>
</ul><ul>
<li><em>I got, um. You know.</em></li>
</ul><ul>
<li><em>Are you okay? Can I make it up to you?</em></li>
</ul><hr/><ul>
<li><em>No that was… Mamo-chan wow</em></li>
</ul><p>His swelling fear that he’d left her hanging ebbed, but his nerves soon began to jangle with worry over what they’d just done. This had irrevocably changed their relationship - it <em>had </em>to have - and what if she didn’t actually want forever? </p><p>Or worse, what if she was now feeling the same panic, what if she’d been swept up in this just as much as he had been, but now she regretted it? <em>How was he supposed to face her tomorrow?</em></p><p><em>Tomorrow</em>. His eyes went wide. <em>Oh god, he’d offered to cook for her tomorrow.</em> </p><p><em>Was that still happening? Was she planning to come to the wedding with him now? Where did they go from here?</em> He suddenly had too many questions and far from enough answers.</p><p>He was almost too terrified of what she might say to even ask.</p><p>Almost.</p>
<hr/><p>Still spread across her comforter, relishing the warm afterglow, Usagi scrolled back up through their conversation. She made a mental note to ask Minako to show her how to download a copy of the chat out of the app; she wanted to save every moment of this. </p><p>A bubble popped up, letting her know she had a new message, and she rapidly scrolled down to the bottom.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<em>Usako… what happens next?</em> </li>
</ul><p>The perfect bliss faded slightly; her heartbeat sped up again. If he was still calling her ‘Usako,’ that meant he wasn’t taking it back, but...</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>What do u mean?</em></li>
</ul><hr/><ul>
<li><em>Things are different now, aren’t they? I don’t know how to… I don’t know what you’re comfortable with.</em></li>
</ul><p>Always proper and thoughtful, that was her Mamo-chan. </p><p>Was that all he meant? He wasn’t taking back the stuff about wanting to kiss her, about liking her, about fantasizing about her? This was gonna keep going, right?</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li>
<em>I wouldnt mind a repeat performance in person </em>😉</li>
</ul><p>He shivered. He really, really wanted to do this in person - and soon. </p><p>But her wanting to have sex with him wasn’t proof positive that she wanted to <em>date</em> him - what if she wanted to keep him Mamoru-baka, a dirty little secret who she screamed at in public and left trembling in private?</p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>But what about when I see you on Juuban-dori or in Crown?</em></li>
</ul><p>Her nerves were back up. She thought they’d already talked about this. <em>Was he backpedaling? </em></p><p>She wasn’t sure her heart could take this back-and-forth. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li><em>Pretty sure u promised me a kiss</em></li>
</ul><p>The palpitations in his chest abated. <em>Not a dirty little secret, then.</em> </p><p>But when he went to respond, his thumbs froze over the screen - reaffirming his intention to kiss her felt cheap, silly. </p><p>Surely he had more to offer her here, but aside from an outright confession of his feelings - <em>which he was not doing over fucking </em><strong><em>Tinder</em></strong> - he had no idea what to say. </p><p>Apparently the pause dragged on too long, because after a moment the bubbles moved again.</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Dont worry Ill probably run right into u and then u can tease me 4 not looking where I was going</em></li>
</ul><p>He swallowed hard; even at his most socially awkward, he recognized that for what it was: She was trying to give him an out if he wanted it. </p><p>But she <em>had </em>to know that he didn’t.</p>
<hr/><p>Her knees tucked up to her chest, Usagi bounced her phone in her hands as she stared down at the locked screen. </p><p>She hadn’t been prepared for that absolute <em>silence</em> when she’d brought up his promise to kiss her. She’d thought he’d at the very least give her a ‘haha,’ but a whole minute of nothing?!?</p><p>Maybe he <em>was</em> backpedaling. Maybe he’d just been on Tinder that night because he’d been horny. Maybe he’d swiped right on every single girl. Or maybe once she’d led him into the sexting, he’d told her whatever he thought she wanted to hear so she wouldn’t stop. </p><p>She was too scared to scroll back up and review, sure she’d find herself guiding him along, right into this moment of her complete humiliation.</p><p>Her screen lit up and her throat choked up. She was afraid to see his answer, more afraid to not. </p><p>She unlocked the phone…</p>
<ul>
<li><em>I’ll wait until after I kiss you to start teasing.</em></li>
</ul><p>...and nearly burst into relieved tears. </p>
<hr/><ul>
<li>
<em>I dont mind some of the teasing</em> 😉</li>
</ul><p>He let out the slightest chuckle. That was a relief, seeing as he’d probably never be able to entirely stop himself from teasing her in some way or another. But he didn’t mind finding new ways to tease her - ones that they both liked. </p><p>The bubbles pulsed again, and her next message left his heart pounding with anticipation. </p>
<ul>
<li><em>Ur still cooking for me 2morro tho right?</em></li>
</ul><hr/><p>When Usagi emerged from her bedroom the next morning, wearing that low-cut dress from Motoki’s birthday that Mamoru liked, Minako was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and a knowing look on her face. “So, what do you think of Tinder?” </p><p>Usagi flushed red, and Minako’s smug smirk somehow grew even wider. </p><p>“It <em>did </em>surpass my three-day challenge, unless I’m entirely mistaken. So, you gonna keep it?” </p><p>Mortified though she was, it was Usagi’s turn to smirk - hers noticeably more sheepish than Mina’s. “No... I don’t think I need it anymore.” </p><p>
  <em>Not after the night before. Not when, after about twenty minutes of messaging back and forth, he’d finally asked for her phone number and then called her immediately. The moment she’d heard his voice all the fear had melted away, and that was before he’d asked her again to come with him to Motoki’s wedding.</em>
</p><p>Usagi crossed the kitchen and pulled her RSVP card off the fridge - the magnets had been rearranged, now reading “<em>you can use your finger for more - touch his pole, drink his honey, but never forget you do have a roommate</em>” - and Usagi couldn’t help her giggle at Minako’s sass before she dropped the card into the mostly full trashcan. </p><p>Minako arched both eyebrows, looking her roommate up and down. “Well okay then. I’m calling that a win. Just make sure you grab some condoms from the drawer before you go see loverboy in person, mmmkay?” </p><p>Usagi snorted, but when Minako wasn’t looking she did take a moment to step into the bathroom and stuff a few extra condoms in her purse. </p><p>After all, she was going over to his apartment that evening, and if the previous night was anything to go by, it wouldn’t hurt to be prepared...</p>
<hr/><p>Mamoru looked down at the postcard in his hand - the preprinted text read “Your invitation is joyfully accepted by” while the words “Chiba Mamoru and Tsukino Usagi” had been written underneath in his neat calligraphy. Satisfied with his work, he slid the card into the return envelope and sealed it, dropping it in his pile of outgoing mail. </p><p>He would explain the details to Motoki later. Right now, he had dinner to cook before a ravenous and ravishing blonde showed up at his door, and he wanted it to be perfect. </p><p>He wanted the food to be ready and on the table before she got there, so that there would be nothing to stop him from sweeping her up in his arms and kissing her senseless the moment she arrived. </p><p>He wanted to make up for lost time, to make sure neither of them had to wait a second longer than necessary.</p><p>After all, it wasn’t often you got a second chance, and he didn’t plan to waste his.</p>
<hr/><p><br/>
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks so much for reading! I would love to hear what you think (guest reviews are on if you're shy about commenting on smut!) and, if you're interested, you can find me on Tumblr under Daikon1.</p><p>Also, I want to use my tiny little platform to encourage those of you who are US citizens to please vote by or on November 3rd. This is a critical election in our nation's history, so please, please make your voice heard. </p><p>Much love, and I'll see you next time!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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